Chase Elliott makes a Playoff statement with victory at Kansas: It took 99 races for Chase Elliott to get his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory. Ten events later, the scion of NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott has three wins, the latest coming at Kansas Speedway in the Sunday's Round of 12 elimination race in the series Playoffs. Elliott took charge in the Hollywood Casino 400 when Kevin Harvick was hit with a pit road speeding penalty on his last green-flag pit stop on Lap 214 of 267. After inheriting the lead when Brad Keselowski came to pit road on Lap 224, Elliott stayed out front the rest of the way.[More](10-21-2018)

#9-Chase Elliott won the Hollywood Casino 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway. The win is his 3rd win of 2018, 1st win at Kansas and 3rd career win.
#18-Busch finished 2nd followed by #42-Larson, #20-Jones, #78-Truex, Jr., #2-Keselowski, #12-Blaney, pole winner #22-Logano, #88-Bowman, and #10-Almirola.
#12-Blaney, #2-Keselowski, #42-Larson, and #88-Bowman were eliminated from the Playoffs.
Stage 1 was won by #22-Logano, finished 8th
Stage 2 was won by #4-Harvick. He finished 12th.
Playoff drivers cam through the race relatively unscathed. #4-Harvick had a late penalty for speeding on pit road after leading much of the race. #41-Busch had an uncontrolled tire during a pit stop that put him a lap down.
There were 11 lead changes among 8 drivers and 3 cautions for 17 yellow flag laps.
The average speed of the race was: 152.713mph.
See unofficial race results, awards, laps led, cautions and more at:Unofficial Race Results (pdf)Cumulative Report (pdf)Penalty Report (pdf)
See OFFICIAL race results & points standings on the Official Race & Points Report (pdf).

MENCS at Kansas
- Chase Elliott (Hendrick): 3rd career win, all in last 11 races (0 wins in his first 98 career starts)
- Elliott: 1st driver to get 1st 3 career wins in the same season since Carl Edwards in 2005
- Elliott: 2nd-youngest driver at time of 3rd career win in Cup Series history (22 years, 328 days); only Kyle Busch (21 years, 75 days) was younger
- Elliott: gained 10 playoff bonus points in round, will start Round of 8 4th in points (entered Round of 12 with 8 playoff points)
- Kyle Busch (Gibbs): finished 2nd; extends career high with 19 top-5 finishes this season and ties career-high with 25th top-10 finish (only 2nd top-5 finish in 6 2018 Playoff races, won at Richmond)
- Kyle Larson (Ganassi): finished 3rd but eliminated from Playoffs; 10th top-5 finish this season (0 wins)
- Larson: eliminated in Round of 12 for 2nd straight year (never advanced past Round of 12 in 3 career playoff appearances)
- Ryan Blaney (Penske), Brad Keselowski (Penske) and Alex Bowman (Hendrick) also eliminated from playoffs
- Keselowski: eliminated in Round of 12 for 2nd time in last 3 years (advanced to Championship Four last season)
- Joey Logano (Penske): finished 8th, started on pole and led 100 laps, first time he's led 100 laps in a race since Nov. 2016 at Texas (led 178 laps, finished 2nd)
(ESPN Stats & Info)

Race Fast Facts - Kansas
Chase Elliott (P) won the 18th Annual Hollywood Casino 400, his third victory in 109 Monster Energy Cup Series races.
This is his third victory and 18th top-10 finish in 2018.
This is his first victory and third top-10 finish in six races at Kansas Speedway.
Kyle Busch (P) (second) posted his 10th top-10 finish in 22 races at Kansas Speedway. It is his 25th top-10 finish in 2018.
Kyle Larson (P) (third) posted his fourth top-10 finish in ten races at Kansas Speedway.
Bubba Wallace (26th) was the highest finishing rookie.
Kevin Harvick (P) leads the point standings by 13 points over Kyle Busch (P).
(NASCAR Integrated Sports Marketing)(10-21-2018)

Wave Around: how the wave around rule works: All vehicles between the leader and the caution vehicle at the start/finish line when the "one to go" signal is given by the starter are considered "Wave Around" eligible. "Wave Around" vehicles will not be permitted to enter pit road at any time during this yellow flag/caution period. "Wave Around" vehicles must receive the green flag on the race track before being permitted to enter pit road without a penalty. Vehicles under a penalty and the "Free Pass" vehicle will not be eligible to receive a "Wave Around".

Pit Stall Selections: The selections of pit stalls for the Hollywood Casino 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway have been made.
With 40 cars running, pit stalls 22, 42, 43, & 44 are not in use.
Pole winner #22-Logano chose pit stall 1, the first stall available [as do most pole sitters].
Outside pole winner #4-Harvick took pit stall 8, with an opening in front of it.
#10-Almirola, who starts 3rd, took the 23rd stall, with an opening in front of it.
The final pit stall was taken by #2-Keselowski, who starts 5th.
To see where the drivers/teams pit stall is, see the pit selection chart on Jayski.com's Pit Stall Selection chart.(10-20-2018)

First Saturday practice for the Hollywood Casino 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway is over, after 55 minutes, the top five, slowest and notes:
#10-Almirola 186.683
#20-Jones 186.599
#78-Truex, Jr. 186.355
#14-Bowyer 186.303
#18-Busch 186.252
best 10 consecutive lap avg (of 13 drivers): #18-Busch 184.388.
slowest: #51-McLeod 173.723 & #66-Hill 172.172.
notes:#1-McMurray lost an engine. He will have to start from the rear of the field Sunday.
See the fastest speeds, best 10 consecutive lap average, laps run on the Second Practice speeds page (pdf) (10-20-2018)

Joey Logano claims first 2018 pole for Kansas elimination race : Shades of Talladega. Only this time Team Penske-driver Joey Logano in particular-joined the Ford domination party. Saving the fastest lap of the day for the final round of Friday's knockout qualifying session, Logano navigated 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway in 28.177 seconds (191.646 mph) to claim the pole position for Sunday's Hollywood Casino 400.[More](10-19-2018)

Joey Logano won the Busch pole for the Hollywood Casino 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway with speed of 191.646mph for his 1st pole of 2018, 2nd at Kansas and 20th of his career. Logano has won 3 times from the 19 previous poles.
#4-Harvick will start 2nd followed by #10-Almirola, #12-Blaney, #2-Keselowski, #20-Jones, #18-Busch, #19-Suarez, #11-Hamlin, #88-Bowman, #41-Busch, and #78-Truex, Jr.
#10-Almirola was fastest in the second round with a speed of 191.225mph, will start 3rd.
#14-Bowyer was quickest in the first round with a speed of 191.299mph, will start 14th.
Driver(s) who will miss the race: none as 40 were entered for 40 spots
See round-by-round qualifying results on the Qualifying results page (pdf) and the complete starting lineup on the Starting Lineup page (pdf).(10-19-2018)

Kansas Speedway - Qualifying Fast Facts:
Joey Logano (P) won the Pole Award for the 18th Annual Hollywood Casino 400 with a lap of 28.177 seconds, 191.646 mph.
This is his 20th pole in 359 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races.
This is his first pole and 20th top-10 start in 2018.
This is his second pole in 19 races at Kansas Speedway.
Kevin Harvick (P) (second) posted his 24th top-10 start of 2018 and his 12th in 26 races at Kansas Speedway.
Aric Almirola (P) (third) posted his fifth top-10 start at Kansas Speedway. It is his 10th in 32 races this season.
William Byron (17th) was the fastest qualifying rookie.
(NASCAR Statistics)(10-19-2018)

Coverage of Qualifying for the Hollywood Casino 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway is scheduled for Friday, October 19, 2018 at 7:10pm/et.
Television (TV): NBCSN, 7:00pm/et
Radio: Live online at Motor Racing Network (MRN)

Group qualifying under the three-round qualifying format:
• Round 1 -- All entries will have 15 minutes to post a qualifying time, after which the 24 registering the fastest laps will advance to the second round. Those failing to advance will be sorted based on first-round times in descending order (from fastest to slowest).
• Round 2 -- The 24 fastest from the first round will have 10 minutes to post a second-round qualifying time, with the 12 fastest advancing to a third round. Those not advancing will earn starting positions 13 through 24 based on time, again in descending order.
• Round 3 -- The final round will be five minutes in length. The fastest times from this session will determine the first (Coors Light Pole Award) through 12th starting positions.
There will be a seven-minute break between each round; teams may make adjustments to their entries only during the individual breaks. They will not be allowed to jack the vehicle or raise the hood, and once the car or truck enters the garage, it will no longer be permitted to return to the track for additional qualifying attempts.

Qualifying Order for the Hollywood Casino 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway is posted.
The first driver to be lined up on pit road will be #13-Dillon.
The final driver lined up on pit road will be #43-Wallace.
The order is set by a random draw, how cars park on pit road before they qualify, held about an hour before the first practice.
After the first round, the cars lined up by speed.
For the qualifying order, see the Qualifying Order page (pdf).(10-19-2018)

Entry List for the Hollywood Casino 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway is posted, 40 teams/drivers [for 40 spots] are listed.
Some of the drivers entered include: #6-Bayne, #7-Sorenson, #23-Yeley, #51-McLeod, #66-Hill, #72-LaJoie, #99-Weatherman.
Since only 40 cars are entered, all drivers will make the race.
See the full entry list on the Entry List (pdf)

How to Calculate Track Speeds: use the formula Speed = Distance divided by Time. Distance is Track Length, and Lap Time into Hours. Once hour is 3600 seconds, so the calculation for a 48 second lap at Daytona(2.5 miles) would be: Speed = 2.5 x (3600/48), = 2.5 x 75 = 187.500mph. For a 19 second lap at Bristol(.533 miles): Speed = .533 x (3600/19), = .533 x 189.474 = a speed of 100.990mph